


a skeleton & an alien walk into a 7-eleven

by odetosleep



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-31
Updated: 2014-10-31
Packaged: 2018-02-23 07:24:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2539286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/odetosleep/pseuds/odetosleep
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(the title says it all)</p>
            </blockquote>





	a skeleton & an alien walk into a 7-eleven

Tyler hadn’t wanted to go to Jenna’s friend’s Halloween party anyway, but he’d thought he might have been able to have a good time with Jenna when she dragged him along. He hadn’t put much effort into his costume – all he was wearing was his skeleton hoodie with the hood zipped closed, a pair of skeleton leggings that Jenna had let him borrow, and a pair of skeleton gloves. He wasn’t crafty (or concerned) enough to paint metatarsals and phalanges onto his boots, but Jenna had looked him over before they left and declared that his outfit would do. He still felt inadequate next to her extravagant Lady Gaga costume.

She’d abandoned him anyway not long after they got to her friend’s house, and after half an hour of wandering from room to room declining cans of beer that people thrust at him, he came across Lady  Gaga and Magenta from Rocky Horror making out in a corner of the kitchen. Tyler was a little huffy. He’d been hearing about Debby for weeks, so he was surprised he hadn’t put it together sooner when Jenna had insisted they go to this party.

He didn’t know who the host of the party was, but if they were in charge of the music he could conclude that they had weak taste, and he became a thoroughly disgruntled skeleton when he realized there didn’t seem to be any food. Who threw a Halloween party with no themed food? All that was displayed on the kitchen counters was a surprisingly vast collection of alcoholic drinks, the only concession to the occasion being a bowl of blood-red punch with plastic spiders floating in it. At least he _hoped_ they were plastic.

Tyler grumbled to himself about the lack of candy as he pushed his way through the people in the hallway and out the open front door. Somebody had dragged out some speakers to bring the party to the front lawn, which was now covered with an assortment of dancing ghouls, with the odd celebrity look-a-like here and there. Tyler knew there was a 7-Eleven they’d passed on the way here that was maybe ten minutes’ walk away, so he weaved through the people dancing to get to the street. He wished he could have asked Jenna for her car keys, but she was clearly busy.

When he reached the store it looked like there’d been some natural disaster that required people to sweep the shelves and hoard supplies. The candy aisle was almost wiped except for the rejected candy that nobody wanted, but to his relief he spotted a lonely orange Reese’s package on the bare shelf halfway down the aisle. He made a beeline for it, but as he reached out to grab it another hand shot out of nowhere.

“Hey!” Tyler protested, but the other person didn’t let go. Tyler turned and saw that it was somebody in a green alien mask, with a matching green morph suit. _Brave choice_ , Tyler thought as he tugged on the pack of pumpkin-shaped peanut butter cups, trying to ignore the way the suit clung to their arms. Those were some defined muscles.

“I just came from a party where the only food was vegan cupcakes. I _need_ these.”

“My best friend dumped me to make out with Magenta and there was nothing but booze,” Tyler countered, still not letting go.

“You’re a skeleton, these will just go right through you.”

Tyler almost laughed, but he couldn’t let this guy win. “Shouldn’t a Power Ranger be looking for something more nutritious?”

“I’m an _alien_ ,” they protested. “And if I was going to be a Power Ranger, I’d be the pink one, thanks.”

Tyler couldn’t help it, he smiled behind the skull hood. He nodded to the package of peanut butter cups they were both still gripping. “I’d be willing to go halves.”

The alien’s head cocked to one side, considering. “Deal.”

“I’ll even pay, if you let go. I promise I won’t try to run away with them.”

The alien released the candy, and followed Tyler to the counter.

“This is kind of awkward, actually,” they said, hovering behind  Tyler as he handed money over to the bored-looking cashier, whose devil horns flashed periodically. “I feel like a creep.”

“Maybe it would be less creepy if we saw each other’s faces,” Tyler suggested, as they walked out of the store. Tyler headed to the edge of the sidewalk in front of the store and sat down on the curb, looking up over his shoulder to make sure the alien was following him.

“You first,” they said as they dropped down next to him. “Did you walk here? I don’t have a car, so…”

“Yup.” Tyler opened the packet and tossed the first cup into the alien’s lap. “No, you first. You’re gonna have to take the mask off if you want to eat that.”

“I’m rolling my eyes right now, even if you can’t see it.”

The alien reached up and pulled off the mask, revealing a shock of bright pink hair sticking up all over the place. Tyler hoped he wasn’t blushing under his hood, because the alien was _cute_.

“I’m Josh. You can stop calling me ‘alien boy’ in your head now, if you were,” he smiled. “Your turn.”

Tyler unzipped the hood and let the halves fall onto his shoulders, running a hand through his hair and hoping it wasn’t too much of a crushed mess.

“’M Tyler,” he mumbled, his bravado dissipating without the anonymity of the skeleton mask. He pulled the gloves off, too, and stuffed them into his pockets.

“Thanks, Tyler,” Josh replied, through a mouthful of chocolate and peanut butter. He nudged Tyler’s printed ribs with his elbow. “You gonna eat those?”

Tyler broke one of the cups in half and tossed a piece into the air, tilting his head back to catch it in his mouth. He was secretly relieved that it hadn’t just hit him in the face, but Josh looked impressed. Until Tyler started choking on it, that is.

“Are you okay?” Josh clapped Tyler on the back as he coughed until the piece of chocolate dislodged itself from his throat.

“Fine and dandy,” Tyler wheezed, eyes watering. _This peanut butter is smoother than you, dork_.

“Man, you share your chocolate with me and it almost turns you into a skeleton for real. I should probably pay you for your trouble.”

“Nah, it’s fine-”  Tyler broke off when he realized that Josh’s morph suit didn’t have anywhere for him to stash a wallet. “Dude, do you even have any money on you? Or were you just lurking there waiting for someone to buy the peanut butter cups so you could jump in on them?”

“Hey,” Josh protested, fidgeting with the side of his boot. Tyler didn’t know they even made Docs in that shade of green. “I happen to be an _honest_ alien. See?”

He pulled a folded and crumpled note from the inside of his shoe. The triumph on his face faded when Tyler wrinkled up his nose.

“Dude, you can keep your money if it smells of feet.”

“Are you just going to keep insulting me?” Josh complained. Tyler grinned and threw another peanut butter cup at him. Josh caught it with one hand and shoved it into his mouth, shaking his head.

After he’d finished eating it, Josh said, “I really should pay you back somehow, though.”

Tyler, chewing contentedly, just shrugged.

 Josh looked at him sideways, a little shyly. “Do you accept kisses?”

Tyler paused his chewing and swallowed before replying. “They’re not my _favorite_ , but hey. Candy’s candy.”

Josh made an exasperated noise and tugged Tyler closer by the front of his hoodie. He hesitated with his face close enough to Tyler’s that they were looking directly into each other’s eyes. Tyler’s eyelids fluttered shut and he leaned forward, Josh closing the rest of the distance between them and pressing his lips to Tyler’s. He stroked a thumb across Tyler’s cheekbone as he pulled away.

“Okay?” Josh asked softly.

Tyler nodded, face sincere. “Out of this world.”

Josh looked at the alien mask in his lap and sighed, but the corners of his mouth were twitching upwards.  At that moment, the Monster Mash began playing from Tyler’s pocket.

He fumbled for his phone, blushing. “Jenna? How did you change your ringtone – what? I didn’t see your texts yet. _Well_ , you seemed a bit preoccupied to me…”

Josh raised his eyebrows.

“I was abducted by an alien. I’m not! Fine, I’ll explain later. Yeah, yeah. I’ll be back in ten.”

Hanging up, Tyler got to his feet and offered the package to Josh. “I gotta head back, but I want you to have these.”

Josh took them, and Tyler hoped he wouldn’t throw away the wrapping without noticing that Tyler had sneakily written his phone number on it with the keyring Sharpie in his pocket.

“It was nice meeting you, alien boy,” Tyler smiled. He leaned down to peck Josh on the cheek before straightening and zipping up his hood.

“You’re the coolest skeleton I’ve ever met.” Josh pulled his alien mask back on, adjusting it over his face. Tyler could see that he was grinning underneath it. “I hope I see you around.”

Josh turned to walk in the opposite direction to the way Tyler was heading, presumably also back to his party. Tyler stopped to call out to him.

“What am I gonna tell Jenna? She didn’t even believe me on the phone.”

Josh called over his shoulder, laughter slightly muffled by his mask.  “A skeleton and an alien walk into a 7-Eleven…”

**Author's Note:**

> happy halloween, nerds


End file.
